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Griddled spiked prawns with fragrant salad
Serves 4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 750g-1kg raw whole prawns
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 3tbsp extra virgin olive oil
For the fragrant salad
- juice 1 lime
- 2tbsp fish sauce
- 2 pinches coconut palm sugar
- 3tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Bombay onion or red onion, quartered and finely sliced
- 8 radishes, thinly sliced
- 1⁄2 cucumber, halved lengthways and sliced
- 1 papaya, skinned, deseeded and chopped into 1cm cubes
To serve
- 4tbsp raw peanuts, lightly roasted and roughly chopped
- Thai basil
- Chinese flowering chives
Method
Prepare the prawns by removing the body shell where the legs are, leaving the head and tail shell intact. Lightly cut into the back and remove the dark vein that runs all the way down to the tail. Set aside.
Using the pestle and mortar, crush the chilli and garlic to a paste with the sea salt then combine with the olive oil. Drain the bamboo skewers and thread each prawn from tail to head. Place them on an oven tray and pour over most of the chilli and garlic marinade to coat. Set aside.
To make the salad, put the lime juice, fish sauce and palm sugar in a bowl. Whisk in the oil then add the vegetables and papaya.
Heat a griddle pan and turn the prawns in their marinade. Cook as many prawn skewers as you can fit in the pan until pink and lightly charred, about 2 minutes on each side. Heat any excess marinade in a small saucepan and drizzle over the cooked prawns.
Serve alongside the fragrant salad and scatter with the peanuts, Thai basil and Chinese chives.
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